The Unholy Three
Directed by Jack Conway
From a book by Clarence Aaron ‘Tod’ Robbins
1930/US
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube
Professor Echo, aka Mrs. ‘Grandma’ O’Grady: Sure! From tonight on we disappear. They’ll look for the Midget, but there won’t be no Midget. They’ll find the fingerprints of the Echo, they’ll be no Echo.
Hercules: It sounds kinda creepy.
Midget: I like it. It’s unholy!
Professor Echo, aka Mrs. ‘Grandma’ O’Grady: That’s us! The Unholy Three.
Lon Chaney’s only talkie proved that he could be as versatile in sound as he was in silents.
Professor Echo (Chaney) is a ventriloquist in a side show. He recruits his colleagues the strongman Hercules (Ivan Linow) and a midget (Harry Earles – Freaks) into his scheme for jewel thefts. Echo disguises himself as petshop owner Grandma O’Grady and uses ventriloquism to make birds “talk” in his shop. Hercules poses as Grandma’s son-in-law and the midget as Grandma’s daughter’s baby. When the buyer complains that the bird won’t talk at home, the unholy three pay a visit to show the buyer the bird still talks and case the buyers home for valuables they can steal later.
I saw this a week ago and thought it was entertaining. Chaney, as always is pretty amazing, he not only did his own makeup but performed all his different voices in the film. Haven’t seen the 1925 silent original directed by Tod Browning.
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